1930年代のイェイツの危機意識 : ■inorganic mind■への批判を中心に
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概要
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Yeats's interest in the fascism and eugenics of the 1930s has given rise to most diverse interpretations. They can roughly be classified into two groups: prosecution group and defense group. Both groups, with all their precious achievements, seem to have one deficiency in common, namely that they tend to have approached this issue exclusively from the political perspective. This paper is an attempt to interpret his interest in fascism and eugenics as reflecting his sense of crisis over the degradation of organic mind into inorganic which Yeats regarded as the fundamental cause of the degeneration of modern European civilization. In this relation, Yeats sums up his hatred and love of the Renaissance as follows: ■I detest the Renaissance because it made the human mind inorganic; I adore the Renaissance because it clarified form and created freedom.■ This summary he made in 'On the Boiler' (1939) is crucially important in understanding the true nature of the inorganic mind as contrasted with the organic mind, which keeps alive the sentiment of an exalted freedom in its proud submission to any traditional norm or authority. The inorganic mind which Yeats criticized as what was disseminated by the Renaissance is almost identical with the naked reason that Edmund Burke criticized as what was disseminated by the French Revolution, in that they both are characterized by being unwilling to submit to any traditional norm or authority. This paper has demonstrated how directly or indirectly his sense of crisis over that degradation has been reflected in many of his texts, including 'On the Boiler,' 'Purgatory,' and 'Under Ben Bulben,' in which he referred to either fascism or eugenics, or which revealed his interest in them.
- 2011-03-01